After the high-profile police violence incident, the Dalny police station was dissolved and all 87 personnel relieved of their duties

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The Investigative Committee. Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, May 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Investigative Committee /SK/ sent to Tatarstan prosecutors the criminal case against eight former personnel of the Dalny police station, SK spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

On March 9, 2012, Sergei Nazarov, 52, was brought to the Dalny police station for petty hooliganism. Police claimed the detainee was in a state of alcoholic intoxication and said they had called an ambulance after Nazarov complained of stomach ache. After a check, medics made a painkiller injection and suggested in-patient treatment, but the man declined hospitalization.

On March 10 afternoon, Nazarov complained about stomach ache again and this time, he was rushed to hospital. He was diagnosed with rectum rupture and died after surgery. Nazarov's relatives said he had not been drunk at the moment of detention and that just before surgery Nazarov told them that police had tortured him with a champagne bottle.

Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin ordered to set up a group of experienced investigators from the SK central office and the investigation department of the Republic of Tatarstan. They talked with citizens and took their statements claiming illegal actions by police. As a result of this work, 18 criminal cases were opened, which were pooled into one.

After the high-profile police violence incident, the Dalny police station was dissolved and all 87 personnel relieved of their duties. Tatarstan Interior Minister Asgat Safarov was fired.

In 2012, investigators in Tatarstan opened 117 criminal cases against police. Twenty-seven cases were sent to court.

None of the policemen pleaded guilty, Markin said. Seven of them are in custody and one is on recognizance.

Two Dalny policemen, Nigmatzyanov and Garifullin, signed plea bargain agreements within this case in June 2012. They were sentenced to two years and two years and six months, respectively. The investigators said it was those two police who had brought Sergei Nazarov to the police station and drew a protocol of administrative offence.

Criminal proceedings against Dalny chief Ilgiz Akhmetzyanov made a separate case, as he had suffered two heart attacks, and the medics said he needed a six months' break before the probe against him could continue.

Therefore, the SK managed to arraign all the former personnel of the police station involved in crimes against citizens, the SK spokesman said.